Reviews

Low stakes and oversaturation of characters

Before going into this, it was already pretty clear that Strong Woman DBS, which had one of the most iconic kdrama couples ever, was a difficult act to follow. I'm going to try and get all the comparisons out of the way first. While I wasn't a HUGE fan of the humor in SWDBS, it knew well enough to take serious moments seriously, and everything else was strong enough to make up for it; I loved the leads and the murder plot was thrilling and high-stakes. This drama has the same issue with its humor, but its other aspects are either weak or worse.

The humor just isn't my style at all. There's a lot of physical humor and over-acting; it might be fine if it was only used in select moments, but I felt like it permeated every second of drama, even big fight scenes and what should've been tense moments with antagonists. Overall it made the entire tone of the drama seem kind of off — as if nothing actually mattered because it was all for laughs.

The drug plot felt low-stakes not just because of the tone, but also just because of the way it was written. I don't think anyone going into this drama should expect any profound commentary on drugs or class issues in South Korea. The drama seems to try every once in a while with an offhanded comment, but it really doesn't go much deeper and it's even self-contradictory sometimes. There's parts where they touch upon it, but they also make its lead a "good billionaire" because she's kind with her money and because she pulled herself up by her bootstraps. It felt contradictory to any commentary, just so viewers could get some #girlboss moments.

In terms of characters — I'm not a fan of ensembles to begin with and this drama is a good example of why. It felt like there were so many characters and so many subplots that none of them got enough screentime to be complete, and less important subplots took over more engaging ones. The drama spent SO MUCH screentime on the grandmother's romance, which felt slapstick and unserious, while Namsoon and Heeshik's screentime began to dwindle. And as the drama went on it felt like more and more antagonists were getting introduced as random side characters, and because they served no purpose other than to trigger plot points and had no backstory or personality, they began to blur into each other.

The only antagonist that really had a good story was the villain Ryu Shi-O, but my bigger issue with him plays into my low-stakes criticism. He was just...a bad villain. He has physical abilities, sure, but his plans, goals, and motivations weren't that clear, and most of all I just can't believe that he couldn't piece together anything our protagonists were planning when they were being so obvious about it. I mean...Namsoon's acting...

With so many things going on, romantic lines didn't have enough screentime for good development. I'd already mentioned not caring about the grandmother's romance, and while Namsoon/Heeshik were the best in the show, it felt like they didn't really go deeper than both of them being cute.

Honestly, I think there's an audience for this somewhere out there — maybe someone who likes quirkiness and shenanigans — but it's not me. I'm giving this a 2 (and not a 1) just because it didn't utterly infuriate me as much as me just not really caring.

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A MUST WATCH! I am super excited to write a review on this because I am ready to spill out ALL my thoughts on this drama! AHHHHHHH!!! Let's get started before I keep babbling on about how fantastic this drama is haha... (Get ready to read a long/full of thoughts review)

Story/Plot: -10- When my mom showed me this drama, I saw it was related to video games and I was like "I'm out! I am NOT watching this!" but I decided to give it a shot and I am so happy I did! The storyline is amazing, the combination between the game world and the outside world is such a unique idea that was brought out nicely throughout this drama. I love school/earlier adulthood settings so this was a major plus for my specific taste. Overall, the plot was perfect because it had funny moments, sad moments, and such cute moments all in one!

Acting/Cast: -10- Zheng Shuang and Yang Yang (Bei Wei Wei and Xiao Nai) had amazing chemistry! His character looks out for her in every way possible and it is just so cute! Her character complements his character and that makes this whole entire drama 10 times, NO! 100 times better. The whole entire cast was spot on for this plot. Er Xi and Bei Wei Wei's friendship is absolute GOALS! Speaking of goals, of course, Bei Wei Wei relationship with Xiao Nai is also goals! It makes me so sad because I know, in the real world, that there will never be anyone perfect as Xiao Nai! :( I also love how this drama mainly focuses on the two main characters and even though there are misunderstandings throughout the drama, it always comes back to focusing on Bei Wei Wei and Xiao Nai. This just adds way more meaning to their relationship in "Love o2o" and it is what makes this drama really stand out from the others.

Music: -10- The songs/tunes used in this drama are so adorable and they fit in with the events happening so well! There is also a song by Yang Yang in this so that just makes me love it even more! :)

Rewatch Value: -10- Saying that I have already watched this drama 3 whole times, from the beginning to the end, and still find it intriguing to watch it for the fourth and fifth and sixth time, I would definitely give this a 10 rating for "rewatch value." (I am actually planning to rewatch this for the fourth time, maybe tomorrow since I have nothing else to do)

Overall: -10- The storyline is perfect! The characters are perfect! The music is perfect! Everything is practically perfect! There is no other drama that has beaten this one yet, for me, so I absolutely LOVED this one! I might seem to be rating this drama really easy going, maybe in your opinion, but this drama hits the spot for me! Trust me with this review! :)

Thank you for reading this long review, but I hope it helped you guys! I REALLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO WATCH THIS DRAMA BECAUSE IT IS THE BEST ONE YET FOR ME!

Chào for Now!
Lily L.

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A perfect Feel Good Story.

For me, Hidden Love is one of the Best dramas of 2023.

The relationship between the siblings was delightful to watch. They portrayed the day-to-day banter between Sang Yan and Sang Zhi very accurately.

The chemistry between the Leads was excellent too. They did a fantastic job to bring these characters to life, their personality and relationship was very real. The build-up took time, but after that, it was very real and heartwarming to watch.

All the characters helped the show in their way. Sang Zhi's University friends and Jiaxu's Office colleagues also contributed to the drama very much. They are an integral part of the story.

The main plus point is the drama justified its title "Hidden Love". Those who have experienced Hidden crush / Love can relate to the emotional journey Sang Zhi goes through.

Also, there is no toxicity in this show. So one can enjoy this show and this show can make one's spirit go up.

The OST complements the show well too.

Every good thing has to end. Hidden Love has ended too. But I will rewatch it soon and no matter how many times I rewatch it, THIS DRAMA WILL never be old or monotonous to me.

I recommend everyone to watch this drama.

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This drama had a really strong premise and interesting character development initially; the personality flopping between the 2 personalities of the princess was quite fun to watch and had lots of potential. 4-5 episodes in however, only the modern day girl appears, and the actually Qu Tan Er gets 0 meaningful screen time and it's just a straight love story between Xiao Tan and the 8th prince. This makes for a pretty boring watch as any interesting interactions between the first prince and Qu Tan Er are basically tossed aside, virtually eliminating any tension from the story as both alternate love rivals are basically neutered. The film editing and story flow gets really sloppy starting from episode 10; you'll watch a lot of scenes where wooden actors drone on in a predictable manner, scenes cut in between each other abruptly, characters forgetting or contradicting events that literally happened 10 minutes earlier, story elements that get thrown in without prior explanation and get tossed away just as quickly, among other obvious gaffes. Overall this drama had a really solid beginning, but it became more and more of a train wreck as the series progressed.

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1) The reason I watched this:

I was hunting down Lee Min Jung's films and so I found this plus the rest of the cast seemed great so I end up watching this with great expectations.

2) Storyline/Plot:

The general story wasn't attractive or somethingspecial, it was sort of average.

Positive points:

*I really loved the opening story. At that moment, I thought I would rate this fim with a 8-9 but then everything didn't went the right way.
*I really can't seem to think about any other positive points.

Negative points:

*The story wasn't captivating which created many balnk moments.
*The leads mixture was really unnecessary because it was obvious who's going to end up with who.
*The general plot wasn't pleasant to watch.
*The story's development didn't deliver anything memorable.

Story: 4/10.

3) Acting/Cast:

*The only thing that counts for this film is the acting departlent. Although it wasn't impressive but the cast was pretty good.

*Park Shin Hye: she lead the stronget character here, (I kept remembering how she looked like in you're beautiful but I believe that's a normal reflex): she did a good job and her role was the only likable one.
*Lee Min Jung: I was unsure about her character here but the acting was well done.
*Uhm Tae Woong: Although I like the actor, his character was so much resentable that I almost hated the actor but his acting wasn't bad.
*Choi Daniel: No comments on his acting but as a cast he was okay.

Cast: 8/10
Acting: 7.5/10

4) The ending:

The ending is something good too, it was nicely made and fun to watch especially the last scene.

The ending: 8/10

5) My impression (How did it affect me):

*I didn't enjoy this film. In fact, I was counting time until it ends because I don't drop films.
*I was bored and regretful for watching this.

My impression 2/10

6) Overall:

*If you're rom-com lover then you may want watch this..
*If you like several cast films then you may like this.
*If you're not a fan of any of the lead actors then don't even bother about this.

Overall: 5/10.

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This film is powerful. Pure art. I know it's not the sort that most people will get because it's not a guilty pleasure relief or melodrama, you can't 'ship' and expect trivial tropey dialog and sentiments, this is more like watching poetry. But if you do enjoy artistic poignancy and want to watch something with a little more meaning and depth, then please watch this one. The dialog is raw and honest and the love is always sincere and painful. Doesn't matter who you wanted the main character to end up with this film will teach you a great deal about love... and life. I don't like using words like ' literary tour de force ' at the risk of sounding like a paid review on a Dan Brown book jacket but I can't find any other words that fit.

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Never let me go? wish I did

GMMTV did it again. They produced another mid BL. I am still surprised this was the same company that created Not me,Bad duddy and MSP. I guess it has more misses than hits. Anyways, I never have been more bored, have rolled my eyes so much that they went to the back of my head or dreaded to watch a series so much. I literally watched the last few episodes at 2x speed and that was still slow. At first, I liked it but then it keep going off track that the train now is in the bottom of the ocean. The plot holes in this series puts swiss cheese to shame. At first I could turn a blind eye in the first few episodes but then it keep getting worse and worse and especially when it came to the serious parts, it was not even taking itself seriously anymore. They couldn't work out the timing when to have a romantic, serious and sad moments. During a very serious moment they would have a romantic moment and what not, it completely ruined the vibe. Also the problems in this series were often solve so easily, or the problem wasn't needed or it was completely forgotten. Like for example and spoiler when Palm's dad gets captured and Nueng main reasons to go back was to free his dad but he completely forgets about him. Until Palm get driven to an edge and then he frees him which was very easy to do. or the fact that they didn't to run away for so long in the first place because Nueng could easily come back and be a boss and hire bodyguards which he did. The plot was basically not there. It was like the directors were writing a script out of their asses as the series was filming lmao. Now the acting, is pretty mid. Pond was kinda okay but Phuwin acting or how he deliver his dialog always make it seem like he was angry or trying to pick or fight. Both of them lack emotion I think what is I am trying to say. Need a lot of work. Now the music choice was just laughable. They played a country song and christmas songs during serious or romantic moments. I was just laughing my ass off. I couldn't take it seriously at all. This was really a disappointment. I was really looking forward to it but in the end I was just dying for it to finish.

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Worth the Wait

Zhao Lusi is a talented and beautiful actress -her acting skills are at a different level - very expressive and committed to the storyline. ML and FL make a nice-looking couple. Both portray their roles very well and appear to a good pairing. They can act silly together and also have serious conversations. Costumes are beautiful, cinematography is magical, and music matches perfectly with the story. I have already watched the first 6 episodes multiple times. Can’t wait for more episodes to be released. Very entertaining- highly recommend!

Update: Finished watching… and other than wishing there were more episodes to expand on the ending a bit more, I stand by my original review. Bravo to the cast, costume designers, and cinematographers!

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Every vacuous cliché in every vacuous episode

When you’ve already hit the record for maximum clichés in an episode in the first week of broadcasting, you know where it’s going. Recycled cheese.

Accidentally falling into ML’s arms? Check: so many times I lost count.
Toilet joke. Check: in your face x 2
Mean work colleagues. Check: 100% all round.
Ridiculously unbelievable “heroism”— look no rope. Check: (give me strength).
Umbrella in the rain scene. Check x 2
Pulling FL out of the path of an oncoming scooter: Check.
FL carried bride-style for no good reason. Check x 2
Wall to wall, endless, inappropriate PP. Check.

And on and on and on…

I really looked for something original in there but totally failed to find it. (No actually, come to think of it, the fully and explicitly enunciated English language, “What the Fuck!” in Ep 8 was pretty original.) Even compared to other productions in its genre I don’t think it stands up.

The script is the sort of random mess that doesn’t have any highlights except for the obligatory stepping stones of a common or garden romcom which it forces onto the characters regardless of character integrity. It manufactures ridiculous scenarios in order to include endless PP (episode ten was unbearable, just skip it) or linger endlessly on eyes gazing longingly at each other. A teenage dream fantasy fulfilled at least once in every episode and twice on Sundays. I was just sooooo bored.

The majority of the characters were cookie cutters with no discernable defining characteristics and no opportunities in the script to show depth. Were there secondary relationships? Maybe, it was so long between interactions I’d almost forgotten who the characters were.

So is there a saving grace? Well yes there is, but it’s the only one I can find. Fantastic, sizzling chemistry and eye candy. All those years of idol training haven’t gone to waste, Jun Ho is pose perfect in every close up and Yoon Ah knows very well how to melt into an embrace (no ironing boards here). Seeing as that is probably the number one requirement for many viewers it would probably explain the ridiculously high rating for the show (8.4 at time of writing). Will it up the rating as far as I’m concerned? Well… no.

Maybe I’ve missed the point. Perhaps the whole raison d’être of the genre is to be a sucky blanket of repetitive clichés with no discernible plot to showcase pretty faces, and I’m doing that unforgivable thing of criticising something for what it never set out to be. But I’m stupid enough to live in hope that somehow this genre will one day produce something clever, witty, memorable, funny and original. Just give up why don’t you!!

I think my problem is that I really want a funny-romantic sucky blanket too. Who doesn’t? But just not like this. I want something more sophisticated and worthy of the quality of the actors that star in it. ‘Cause I’ve been a fan of Jun Ho ever since “Just Between Lovers” and consider that the guy can act and has taken on some non-standard roles. (He was the only reason for considering watching this in the first place.) I was cringing with secondary embarrassment for both of the leads at least once an episode. Jeez these guys earn their living.

Okay, next time you see a romcom on my Currently Watching list, kindly do me a huge favour and msge me a reminder that I’m going to spend the entire time rolling my eyes and pushing myself to the end of the episode, so not to bother however much I might want to consider it as a reviewer.

What may rating means: 3+ Totally unbearable, but often compulsively watchable as you really can’t believe that it can be this bad.

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Terrific scenario spoiled by slipshod storytelling, a problematic protagonist & uneven cast

This should have been an easy slam dunk hit. Lee Dong Wook as a corrupt investigator with a redemption arc, Wi Ha Joon as a looney vigilante and Han Ji Eun as a narcotics detective is a great setup. Layer on the relationship between Soo Yeol and K is all in Soo Yeol's head and there's endless potential for entertainment.

It's potential mostly unrealized unfortunately.

It begins with another corrupt cop as the primary villain. He's all but twirling a handlebar mustache and exclaiming "You'll never catch me! HAHAHA!!!" Sure enough, the initial attempt to bring him to justice fails and he continues his nefarious deeds. But in relatively quick order, he is brought down only to be replaced by a corrupt politician who repeats the mustache twirling, threats of being above the law, failed initial attempts to bring him down and then somewhat surprisingly quick reversal where his malfeasance is brought to an abrupt end. After that, it's another corrupt cop. Or it might be the drug gang enforcer. Or the wild-eyed assassin that works for one of or both of those two. It's difficult to piece together how quickly the show burns through the lineup of villains each of which momentarily appears to The Big Bad only to be sidelined almost as quickly as he had appeared.

Then there's a mind-controlling REAL Big Bad that takes an agonizingly long time to be revealed by which time there's not a lot of time to build to a satisfying climax. It's a frenetic series of arcs through the first half of "Bad & Crazy" that is then swapped for a tedious one.

If the dialogue and character development had perhaps been better fleshed out, perhaps the wonkiness of the plot might have been worth overlooking, but it isn't.

Lee Dong Wook's Soo Yeol flip flops back and forth between spastically fighting with K to pathetically groveling for mercy to scheming for a promotion during all of which the volume is set to 10. It's a disappointing approach as Lee Dong Wook is a masterful thespian at a more dialed down level. But honestly, with the tediously generic and repetitive dialogue ("You crazy psycho!" "You crazy jerk" "You crazy punk" "You psycho"), Soo Yeol was a mess of a character to portray.

Wi Ha Joon was vastly more entertaining as the wildly grinning and mischievous K. Had he been as prominently featured as Soo Yeol, particularly after the first few episodes, this review would likely have been significantly more positive. Alas, Wi Ha Joon is a distant second in screen time.

As for the remaining cast, there's a cornucopia of less than stellar castings (Lee Hwa Ryong), generic characters (Sung Ji Ru, Shin Joo Hwan, Jo Dong In) or promising appearances that turn out to be limited (Park Se Joon, Lee Seo An, Kim Si Ha). On a brighter note, some of the legion of Briefly Appearing as the Big Bad characters (Lee Sang Hon, Won Hyun Joon and espeically Im Ki Hong) are terrifically fun. And Kang Ae Shim and Kim Dae Gon alternate between delivering the most emotional and most comical scenes.

Overall, though, the production fails to realize what could have been and labors to build sustainable intrigue. Not recommended.

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Story was not bad, but lack of couple chemistry I guess?

The whole vibe of the story is a bit like vampire/dracula as the main character travels fast, strong and have some sort of power. But I really fancy this kind of story so it is definitely a go-go for me no matter what the rating was.

To summarise what I like and dislike about the show for people who are contemplating whether you should go ahead watching!

Things I liked about the drama:
- Handsome male leads with charming characteristics, I meant both Lee Dong Wook and Kim Beom! (Extremely hopeless 2nd lead syndrome here, Kim Beom SO COOL AND CUTE HERE!!!!)
- Unusual warm-hearted brotherhood
- Exciting fighting scenes with effects (More in the first half of the drama)
- Genre (if you enjoyed fantasy you will like this drama)
- Cute second fox couple too (I prefer them than the main ones)

Things I disliked about the drama:
- Female lead (Honestly she had a pretty good acting but I don't know why I felt she is not so suitable for this role)
- Chemistry between the couple (LDW had a pretty good chemistry with Yoo Inna in previous show but not this one), I don't feel the love between the two hence unable to feel the sadness when they broke apart, which it is actually a huge part in this show.
- Although it is a HE, but some parts of the ending are quite speechless and not well explained. Personally I think they should have just cut short the lovey dovey scenes for the couple and do more explanations on the ending (Please don't read below if you do not want spoiler)
***SPOILER***
I don't understand why they made it so deliberately to kill the 2nd male lead just to save the male lead (when all the bad things have already settled down and back to a peaceful life, yet adding in such scene just because 2nd lead is alive). I understand how they wanted to bring out the brotherhood between the two but it was so unfair that they can sacrifice 2nd male lead life but not the male lead ones, duh. So who is the hero here anyway? Also, no explanation on how male lead return, what happened to him and why he became a fox etc.

Lastly, one word to conclude my review: Overall a nice piece and good story that is worth watching but I don't enjoy the couple that much!

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Tolerable

Story: I like the idea but poorly executed. You would think it’s a zombie apocalypse kind of drama but not really. More like a worse version of covid but here, they were able to find the cure way faster than covid vaccines. But that’s not really the issue, the way how they came up with scenes or different reactions of different type of people with their own motives were pretty annoying. It’s not because they acted poorly but because that’s how they were written. It’s like watching ‘sweet home’ but this is more tolerable. This first few episodes were just okay, middle ones were more thrilling but a major smh and last few episodes were just flat that all I did was fast forward just so I could finish this drama. If I were living in that building, I would definitely not come out of my apartment after getting my groceries. I mean, duh, staying at home is more safe than being exposed outside. But I guess, a drama is more interesting if it’s full of people with complex issues then you add a kid and a kind wife to make it more bearable.

Acting: I think they all did pretty good. I was pretty much annoyed with every character, even the kid. Not always, but somehow they did some things that were obviously shouldn’t be done no matter how many warnings they received. Their selfish reactions weren’t justified well that would make you pity them or at least give them another chance. The main female lead was always reckless that made me almost dropped this. I mean, isn’t she supposed to be more logical because of her job?

Music: Nothing worth remembering but still not bad.

Rewatch value: Definitely wouldn’t rewatch. This gave me headache for a while.

Overall: 6-6.5. It wasn’t bad but it was not THAT good either. Overhyped, honestly. I have more bad memories than good ones with this drama. You would appreciate the villains’ acting here and some cliche moves were prevented in some scenes however, the bad still outweighs the good. Too many plot holes, unanswered questions and lack of chemistry of the two. I honestly don’t get that special chemistry that others were talking about. The supposed additional twist/murderer towards the last 2 episodes was just poor idea from the writer. I wish they could have done better with his character because he seemed mysterious at first. Same with the guy on the 15th floor. The plot was rushed and it didn’t end well but provided us a HEA.

The gist(for me): Self-control/self discipline is definitely important in life, especially when there’s a crisis. Secondly, family will always be there for you. To help you heal and be your cure. Happiness will start with yourself then with others close to you. No matter how you love your family if you can’t control yourself then you’ll bring them down too.

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A refreshingly sassy KDrama, critically reckoning with the South Korean education system (and love)

“The Midnight Romance in Hagwon” promises a love story with its international title - and that's what we get. Jung Ryeo-won and Wi Ha-joon are creating the relatively adult, authentic aura of a tender but complicated love relationship between a former graduate and his former tutor. Yet, the two are more than a couple. Today, as teachers, they inspire each other to teach didactically creative. And in doing so, they also inspire their students.

Thus, the KDrama, which in the original means something like “The Graduate”, basically offers more than a romance. It is rather a quite critical reckoning with the South Korean education system. The criticism: It's less about education than about grades -and a lot of money is involved in getting good grades. The students learn the correct answers to their questions. They therefore receive any effective support outside of school, mainly in the tutoring academies, provided their parents can afford it. However, there is one thing, the students don't learn: how to ask the right questions. They don't learn to question or get to the bottom of something. They know their material they have to memorize and what formulas they should be able to apply. Everything else is not part of the entrance exam or a prerequisite for qualifying for admission to one of the three large SKY universities. It has to be Seoul National University, Korea University or Yonsei University (S, K and Y), if anyone in South Korea is to become something...

"The Midnight Romance in Hagwon" aka "The Graduate" takes stock of the prevailing, dubious, even misleading values of a society, still trying to convince the people that they have to obsessively achieve something in order to be valuable of some sort.

When it comes to the academy teaching staff, it is about tailor-made exam preparation, courting parents an acquiring new students. Looking to the right or left, seeing a student as an individual human being with dreams and needs, let alone respond to them? Oh my! Whether it's students or scandals, it's never about the people. It's always about the money. A lot of money. The competition is enormous. The South Korean education market is a lucrative economic engine that is humming along happily.

This KDrama offers a wonderfully staged, emotionally sensitive and vivid approach to these issues, using the fate of various ambitious, highly motivated teachers who would like to try something different, but are not allowed to. They are surrounded by elitist parents who are ready to do anything for the glorious future of their beloved, dearest offspring. They are also surrounded by fiercely competitive academies that are just waiting for someone to make a mistake, because then those protégés can easily be poached and their own coffers start ringing instead...

What a refreshingly sassy KDrama, dealing with all those issues...

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Simple and Refreshing

I just don't understand why people are hating on this drama for being smooth and not having any kind on twists..... This is a smooth sailing drama.... and I perfectly love it.... if you want twists so badly then I guess this drama is not for you.... try watching some thriller...... This is the perfect blend on Romance and Comedy..... I just love the chemistry of both the leads and everything is going soo perfectly.... I don't want any kind of heart breaks.... breakups etc etc like any other drama.... even if they are included in the upcoming episodes.... I will be okay.... bt seriously..... what kind of twists do you want in this drama.... The storyline is just going straight.... and it is the best for the ones who just finished watching some serious thriller or dark dramas or with many heartbreaks.... I guess then they need something refreshing and this drama serves that....

I personally loved it and will recommend it to the ones who loves RomCom with simple story lines..... The actors did a great job.

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